I've always wanted to make my own joystick. I'll be at an event or convention, and I'll see some guy who has his own handmade rig, and I'll think to myself damn, that guy is for real. And while it's always gratifying to lay the smackdown on another with the standard controller, it has got to feel much better doing so with something you made by your own hand.

With some of these custom sticks I've seen lately, I've been motivated to create my own. More on that later. For now, check out these:

The first comes from Destructoid community member CAVE. His custom Ikaruga stick looks great. His blog says that it took two weeks of building and even more planning to put this sweet stick together. For those down with the lingo, it uses Seimitsu buttons and joystick, and Toodle's Cthulhu PCB for both PC and PS3 compatibility.

Destructoid's very own nilcam has modded what he calls The Zero Stick, and the end result looks fantastic. A hardcore Mega Man fan, nilcam chose Zero for the art for his custom rig, a mod of the Hori Real Arcade Pro 3. Blog entries detail the full progress, but there's no denying that the end result is sweet.

The final comes from PS3Maven, and is a Chun-Li Street Fighter IV in-tray kind of affair.  It looks like a lot of work went into this. It's cool that the same device you play your games on could also hold a beer.

Legacy Comments (will be imported soon)

Diverse

The Ikaruga joystick... it must be mine!

Excel-2011

Maybe this is just me, but 6-button sticks just don't feel right to me. I can only use sticks with 8 buttons, no more, no less.

CAVE

Never thought I'd see my baby on frontpage! :)
I could offer some pointers when ya decide to make your own, but the pros at SRK know much more than I could ever know.

Also, that cool tray one looks like the ultimate arcade experience.

Looptron

Those sticks are just the tip of the iceberg. Check out StickVault for some really nice designs and works. Its a lot of the guys from SRK and other sites that build them custom. Really good craftsmanship and worth the money.

Puppy Licks

sweeeeeeeet!
I've got a custom stick project underway too, I'll post a Cblog detailing the process once I'm done as I'm aiming for a Feb 20th deadline (for obvious reasons hehehe)

bloodylip

I'm feeling left out here :(

CAVE

@Looptron

Right on dude, this stuff is like an underground art. So many crazy designs! This one will always boggle my mind, a guy named BigPockets designed this Akuma stick.

grafkhun

very impressive indeed... also, I'm going to stickvault to see some more awesome sticks.

trueb7ue

those are awesome.


am i the first to notice the obvious placement of the chun li?


joystick chun li peep anyone?

...just sayin

Paul S

I have a gallery on my blog of the various sticks that were used at Seasons Beatings back in October. Some fine work out there.

Dimly

Been thinking about grabbing one of these. Looks awesome

s0lesurviv0r

I WANT TO GO TO THERE!

TheToiletDuck

That Chun-Li stick is fantastic.. if only because of it's size. I get frustrated when the Hori stick i have moves around the place. I mean it could be a lot worse and i still love it but yeah.. bigger is better, especially when it comes to Chunner's thighs. :P

Timstuff

Aside from the Ikaruga stick, these aren't anything to write home about. I've been visiting the Shoryuken forums too long to be so easily impressed. One of them is just a modded Hori stick, and the other looks like a bland piece of wood with a sticker in the middle. I'm sure that they play great and have made their owners quite happy, but these are hardly an ideal showcase of custom stick glory.

RitaLokita

@ToiletDuck

Considering where the joystick is located on ChunLi that can be taken in two ways.

smang

i would like to make my own, but i have the sf4 tourney one en route so i'd probbly be wasting my time. and saving decent parts form getting raped.

AgentMOO

That's some great looking work!

Naim Master

The Joystick coming out of Chun Li's crotch is kinda awkaward ...

KMCC

Wow guys, hats off!

Madcow

I guess im not the only one with an custom arcade stick.
Here are some movies of the sticks a friend and i made.
And please take easy on me, because of the button layout. I know its not perfect, but we wanted it to be similiar to the SNES Pad. I guess i will make some chances until SF4 comes out.

Making of:
http://www.vimeo.com/2501893

Sticktest 1 (Yep, i sucked at that time :D)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9_HJgc-Fy

Sticktest 2 (contiunuing to suck)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylqKkQ1nWas

Friends Stick
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9_HJgc-Fy4